PLSA Registration Deadlines This Week

The Home Education Foundation Newsletter

Home Educators' Voice At The Capitol - Florida

Providing information and insights to Florida Home Educators

March 2015

Leaders,

TIME SENSITIVE INFORMATION

Please post or email home education parents in your groups about the Personal Learning Scholarship Account. If the person you contact does not have a child with disabilities they may know someone who does.

The PLSA scholarship provides funding for parents to obtain the services, curriculum, therapies and, included in the bill this Legislative Session, part-time tutors are added. The PLSA does not require a home education parent to do more than the home education law requires. This scholarship can be used for private school tuition, however, the child must attend a school that qualifies for McKay Scholarships or Florida Tax Credit Scholarships. So, if the parent has funds left over after paying tuition at an approved private school they can use the remainder of the funds to obtain therapies for their child.

If a parent of a special needs child started an application with Step Up for Students for a Personal Learning Scholarship Account (PLSA) for the current school year (2014-15) funds are still available. However, if that parent wants to receive these funds through Step Up for Students for the current year, they must submit any supporting documents required to complete the application immediately. Step Up for Students’ deadline for submitting those supporting documents is Friday, March 20, at 5 pm EST.

If a parent has not applied for the PLSA for this school year 2014-15, AAA Scholarship Foundation is taking applications until the funds run out or until the end of June. If someone you know applied with Step Up and cannot make the Friday deadline, tell them to contact AAA Scholarships and find out how they can apply through AAA. This scholarship can be carried over and banked for later expenditures including postsecondary education. Don’t leave approximately $10,000 on the table that could help a child reach his or her full potential.

If someone you know has a child that was turned down for a 2014-15 school year scholarship, they should re-apply for a PLSA for the 2015-16 school year. There may be some additional disabilities added to the program, but we will not know until the end of Session (May 2). Autism will be redefined as Autism Spectrum Disorder, but other changes are unknown at this time.

PS. If you have heard that payments have been slow for this year, remember this is a BRAND new program which was just signed into law by the Governor on June 20, 2014. There was no administrative funding provided by the Legislature to implement this program. Both scholarship funding organizations (SFO) had to raise private money to administer this program. Both organizations did a great job getting a very complicated program up and running! HEF applauds these organizations for a job well done.

Take the time to call your legislators and ask them to include an administration fee for the scholarship funding organizations in the PLSA bills, House Bill 723 and Senate Bill 602.

If you have a home education question you would like Brenda to answer in a future issue, please submit it to www.flhef.org/contact-us

The Home Education Foundation is supported solely by contributions of Florida home educators.

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